Defense attorneys are using a new weapon to free wealthy people from the legalities placed on the rest of us. They call it "affluenza," and it works.

Most important, it kept a wealthy teenager out of incarceration after he drove drunk and killed four people in Texas. The 16-year-old got probation. The judge, feeling sorry for him, agreed to personally find a treatment program. The victims' families are screaming.

The teen's attorneys argued that his privileged parents set no limits on his behavior. The lawyers paid for expert witnesses who detailed the symptoms of "affluenza." That turned the case around, from recompense for the victims to holding the young man blameless for his terrible lack of judgment.

Though you will not find it in any medical dictionary, affluenza exists. It afflicts the children of privileged, wealthy parents who are too busy to set their moral compass. They allow their children to do whatever they wish. They never say no.

NO CONSEQUENCES

This is a liberal parenting concept, the result of experts who insist discipline is bad for kids. We're reaping the benefits of zero consequences.

And when a teacher or somebody else points out that their little monster needs help, the parents may go ballistic and sic expensive attorneys on these complainers. The result is that coddled children have no concept of the results of their actions, be they drug abuse, alcoholism or highway murder.

So money buys justice, and the kid beats the rap. This reinforces Junior's belief he is bulletproof. He still has no conscience. He still is a time bomb ready to go off again.

If you think this is not serious, how would you like to live next door to a family like this?

Psychologists pressing this theory say it affects mostly upper-class parents who grew up with the same lack of parenting. Their parents could not say no to them, and they cannot say no to their own kids.

Poor and middle-class children who suffer from the same lack of conscience cannot afford experts to give a medical phrase to their miserable lives, so they go to the youth detention center and eventually to prison.

DUTY TO SET LIMITS

The duty of parents is not only to love their children. Obviously, they must set limits, too, especially to temper their teenagers who believe in immortality and cannot fathom consequences.

So what happened to the parents who created this little monster who killed four people in Texas? Nothing.

Affluenza: Remember this the next time Junior gets a speeding ticket or robs a convenience store.